


isang linggong pag-ibig

by asianellenpage



Category: Heneral Luna (2015), Heneral Luna | General Luna (2015) RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Questioning, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, walang tag si jose so i made one for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:45:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5255867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asianellenpage/pseuds/asianellenpage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"o kay bilis ng iyong pagdating / pag-alis mo'y sadyang kay bilis din / ang pagsinta mo na sadyang kay sarap / sa isang iglap lang nawala ring lahat." ~imelda papin, isang linggong pag-ibig (eduardo rusca is dared to be the next weekly conquest of playboy extraordinaire gregorio del pilar.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	isang linggong pag-ibig

**Author's Note:**

> ang kinasasabikan ng lahat!! di ko inakala maging 10k to sorry. also i wrote this during the isdead fight time and i wanted this to be my final fic before i left the fandom kaya sobrang haba but fuk dat im staying lol. i hope appeased kayo kasi matagal din yung dry spell ko. at saka may proper ending na happy to omg!! pramis haha. basta. labyu all.
> 
> special mentions on the fic to my grescuad right-hand man na si ate andear @bangskeletariat at si @miongpole who is sobrang bait and all that jazz. 
> 
> song featured is fools by troye sivan. 
> 
> inspired by a fic called "a flash before the line gets blurry" from my main fandom (written by one of my phanfic idols phansdick) as in sinunod ko talaga kulang nalang copy paste no 
> 
> enjoy p0whzz.

**Day Zero**

“Yee!” there is a loud cheer that erupts through the corridor, and Eduardo looks up from his conversation with Joven to see Jose and Paco walking towards them from the other side.

“Hi, guys,” Jose greets, putting his arms around Joven’s and Eduardo’s shoulders cheekily. Joven eyes Eduardo, wordlessly asking him what’s with Jose. Eduardo shrugs.

“Hi Jose,” Eduardo shoves Jose’s arm from his shoulder, “anong nangyari? Bakit parang masaya ka?”  
Jose beams at him exaggeratedly, and Paco visibly rolls his eyes. The group starts to walk collectively out of school.

“Wala lang,” he states, “naghiwalay lang si Gregorio at si Andear.”

Joven tilts his head, “ay,” he says, “pitong araw na pala?”  
Jose nods. Eduardo pinches his nose bridge. Joven leans into Paco’s arm, and Paco weaves an arm around Joven’s, puffing out a breath.

“Ikaw ha, nahuhumaling ka talaga sa love life ni Gregorio.”  
Jose sticks his tongue out at Paco, “obkors! Sino pa ba ang makakuha ng babae every week? Ang galing kaya niya.”

“Hindi naman sa ganun,” Eduardo speaks up, “he doesn’t even make the effort – gwapo lang talaga siya and girls throw themselves at him. Hindi naman ‘yan mahirap intindihin.”

Joven bites his lip, “um...”  
“Oh, ano?” Eduardo demands a bit too harshly from him.

“Si ate ko kasi,” Joven starts, “sabi niya na may kaibigan daw siya galing CAT na naging girlfriend ni Gregorio, kahit pitong araw lang daw ang relationship nila, todo effort daw si Gregorio.”  
“Hm?” Paco seems intrigued even though he’s pretending that he’s not interested in this kind of shit.

“Sabi ni Ate Isa parang prinsesa daw ang trato ni Gregorio sa mga girlfriend niya, kaya ‘yun, everyone wants to feel like minahal sila, kahit pitong araw lang.”

“Eh, ako!” Jose exclaims, “ako! I will treat them like a queen! Bakit hindi ako?”  
“Kasi torpe ka,” Eduardo declares, and Jose pouts. “At yang nunal mo—”  
“Gago ka ah!” Jose pushes Eduardo playfully, and Joven laughs airily. It’s always something they fight about – Jose’s beauty mark. Eduardo laughs too.

Once they’ve all calmed down and left the school gates, Paco’s hand softly sneaking down to lace his fingers around Joven’s, Paco mumbles, “sino kaya ang masusunod, no?”

Jose doesn’t even wait for the question to settle in everyone’s minds before shouting, “Eduardo!”  
“Ano!?”  
“Ikaw!”  
“Ako?”  
“Oo!”  
“Ha?”

There’s a shit-eating grin on Jose’s face. “Ikaw! Ikaw ang masusunod ni Gregorio!”

Eduardo swats at Jose, “gago, hindi ako bakla.”  
“Kla-kla-kla-kla-kla...” Paco sings under his breath, and Joven giggles. Jesus Christ. If they weren’t Eduardo’s friends he would probably get so mad at Joven for being absolute trash for his boyfriend and his corny jokes.

“Sige naaaaaa,” Jose begs, “pustahan tayo.”

Oh shit.

“Pustahan tayo,” Jose says again, “magpanggap ka na-in love ka kay Gregorio, at kung makalipas ka ng pitong araw na hindi mai-in love sa kanya, ikaw ang panalo.”

“Anong makukuha ko?” Eduardo sneers.  
“My eternal love and devotion.”  
“Pakyu ka.”  
“Er... Ah, kung panalo ka, iiwan ko ang armas ko sa susunod na CAT at magpaparusa ako ni Antonio!”

All heads turn at this suggestion.

“Sira-ulo ka ba?” Eduardo demands. “Sino ang magpaparusa kay Antonio?”

Paco can’t even breathe at the idea. Joven is trying to fan him even in his own panicked state.

“Sige na, Ed,” Jose implores.  
“At kung sakali mai-in love ako kay Gregorio at panalo ka, anong makukuha mo?”  
“Jollibee.”

Eduardo stares at him. Jose shrugs, “I’m a simple man.”

“Jollibee lang? Magpapakamatay ka, Jollibee lang ang compensation mo?”  
Jose waves him off, “basta, Ed, tiwala lang sa sarili, at tiwala kay Duterte.”  
“Hindi tatakbo si Duterte.”  
“Kaya nga walang buhok na ang kuya ko, eh.”

Paco finally hits Jose on the head, “gago!” Joven holds him down.

“Anong kinalaman ni Duterte sa usapan na ‘to?” asks Joven, and Jose only laughs, walking ahead of the group.

“Sira talagang batang to,” Eduardo mutters to himself, walking after Jose. “Oi, Bernal! Anong kailangan gawin ko?”

Jose cheers.

* * *

 

**Day One**

Eduardo wakes up on the first crow of the nearest rooster in his suburban town, dragging his feet across the waxed floors, taking the towel from his door to head to the bathroom.

Jose has told him that Gregorio sits under the narra tree by the quadrangle early in the morning, at around seven sharp, waiting for the first bell to ring that signals that all the students have to line up for flag ceremony now.

He refuses to lose to Jose. He refuses to splurge on three meals from Jollibee (for one person! He knows Jose, and that alone is terrifying) just because he couldn’t keep his heart in check. He refuses to allow Gregorio del Pilar charm him into three months of mourning because he could easily throw Eduardo away like he did with all his other girls.

It’s six-thirty, literally one hour before his first class of the day, but he’s already dressed in his uniform, out the door and into the street looking around for a tricycle that would drive him to the jeepney terminal. He has to get there before anyone else does, he needs to win.

When he gets inside his school, he spots the narra tree with its bench around it, chipping blue paint making it look cold. But it seems to give off a false sense of privacy – it’s alluring.

It’s empty too when he gets there, and he wishes it were for the rest of time till it’s flag ceremony. He likes this spot already. It’s pretty and quiet and safe, a somewhat picturesque scene for him to be in so he can listen to Halsey.

_“Oh, our lives don't collide, I'm aware of this / the differences and impulses and your obsession with / the little things, you like stick, and I like aerosol / I don't give a fuck, I'm not giving up, I still want it all.”_

He really doesn’t want to do this: confess his fictitious, undying love for a boy he isn’t really feeling for, but it’s his pride on the line, and he’s already agreed to this, but it’s already too late, because he can feel a finger tapping his shoulder.

“Hi,” the person greets, and Eduardo turns to look at him.

O, Diyos ko.

O, Diyos ko, it’s Gregorio del Pilar.

Gregorio del Pilar, one of their commanders for CAT, the only commander in CAT who is a junior because of how exemplary he is, is standing right behind him with perfectly-coiffed hair and a blinding eye smile and very pale skin and oh my god, he smells like lavenders how.

“Hi!” Eduardo jumps up from the bench, greeting him in a higher pitch than he usually speaks in. He turns his body around to face Gregorio, not realising that there is a pebble on the ground. He steps on the pebble, and he almost falls back when Gregorio catches him by the waist, mid-mini scream.

Putangina.

“Okey ka lang, kuya?” Gregorio asks in a low voice, and Eduardo’s cheeks are on fire. He’s quitting he’s quitting he’s quitting—

“Ah, oo,” Eduardo responds in a voice completely different from his own. It’s not even the high-pitched voice like earlier, it’s probably the voice of Eduardo in another universe where all boys are girls and all girls are boys. He looks up at Gregorio, who is staring at him with wide, dark brown eyes, and he fiddles with his fingers.

They stare into each other for a long while, or a  short while, Eduardo can’t tell. All he knows is that Gregorio’s eyes are like the ocean, only brown. They’re so deep and kind of curious. He wishes his own eyes were like that, except his are a dull brown. He’s completely uninteresting.

Gregorio breaks the trance between them, clearing his throat as he steadies Eduardo, shoving his hands back into his blazer pockets. Gregorio walks to the back of Eduardo, kicking the pebble away so it doesn’t cause any more nuisance.

“Greg,” Eduardo calls breathily, exaggeratedly, as if his breath was taken away by this minor act of heroism.

Once the pebble was kicked a safe distance away from them, Gregorio turns to look at Eduardo, “po, kuya?”  
It sounds kind of forced, Eduardo notices, and it’s reflected in his smile. Even if he’s pretty in the morning light, his smile is kind of weak, insincere, tired. Like he’s only being polite because Eduardo is an upperclassman, nevermind their rankings in CAT. Like he’s being polite because he feels bad for being rude. It’s like Gregorio knows what’s coming next.

Eduardo bites his lower lip.

Why did he agree to this again?

“Uh,” he stutters, looking down on the ground, both in real nerves and in exaggeration of them, to make it look like he’s really really nervous. Hah. “Um, nung first time nakita kita sa CAT, parang... love at first sight.”

He cringes internally at himself. What the hell is he saying?

Gregorio only quirks a brow, and walks closer towards Eduardo, nodding at him slowly to continue. Eduardo averts his eyes like any girl would, biting his lip again.

“Alam ko na lalaki ako, at siguro hindi mo type ang mga lalaki pero... at least sinubukan ko...”

Gregorio walks one step closer. Eduardo is intimidated. Shit.

“Pwede bang... uh...” he stutters again. “Will you go out with me?”

Gregorio’s smile grows visibly, but it’s still insincere.

“Sure,” Gregorio looks at Eduardo straight in the eyes, and Eduardo is choking on air. Did Gregorio del Pilar just say ‘yes’?

Eduardo’s eyes are popping out of his skull, “talaga?”   
Gregorio nods, brushing a few strands of his fringe that had fallen away from his eyes, and the morning light is hitting him in a very artistic way that brings out the angles of his nose and makes him look somewhat younger than he already is, and suddenly in that moment Eduardo understands why all the girls clamour for Gregorio del Pilar. This boy isn’t a prince, he’s a god.

“Oo,” he says in a kind voice, “gusto mo bang lumabas mamaya? May bagong college cafe na bumukas last week, gusto ko sanang subukan. Okey ba lang ‘yan?”

Eduardo nods way too enthusiastically that he feels Gregorio can read into him, but he wishes he can’t.

The moment the bell rings, they’ve already exchanged phone numbers and Gregorio was already walking away to where his class is supposed to line up, waving to Eduardo who is sat back on the bench with a faux-smitten smile on his face. When Gregorio turns away, Eduardo heaves a large sigh.

He thought that he would get rejected, to be honest. Gregorio del Pilar has never rejected anyone, but then again all the people who asked him were girls and never boys. Maybe he just said yes so he can keep his reputation. Well... okay.

When they return to their classroom after the national anthem and pledge, Jose is grabbing at his forearm asking him if he’s asked Gregorio already. Eduardo merely flashes him a peace sign and a large toothy grin before walking away, leaving Jose to let out a large ‘whoop!’ and getting eyed by a teacher which promptly makes him run away to catch up to his class.

At recess break, Joven comes into his classroom to see Paco and share his grapes, and Eduardo is practically harassed to retell the entire encounter of how he asked Gregorio out, and Jose is cheering noisily that it catches the attention of the rest of the class who decided to stay inside for recess to read.

“What if binasted niya ako?” Eduardo asks, swallowing the Bravo cracker he was chewing on. “Inexpect ko na babastirin niya ako kasi lalaki ako.”  
Jose rolls his eyes at him, “di, no.”  
“How do you know?” Joven inquires innocently, and Paco places a hand on Joven’s hair and starts combing through it.

“Since first year pa niya ‘to ginagawa, Joven,” Jose shrugs, “kahit isa hindi niya binasted. Bakit ma-iiba ang reaction niya kay Eduardo?”  
“Pakyu, Jose,” Eduardo points at him menacingly with the straw of his Zest-O. “Nice to know na para sa reputasyon lang pala ako.”

Jose raises his hands up in surrender, “hindi ako ang magpa-pak sa ‘yo kaya; si Gregorio na ang bahala niyan.”

Eduardo is about to sneer at him when Joven speaks hesitantly, “uh... Kuya Jose...”

“Hm?” the three older boys turn to look at Joven.

“May narinig ako tungkol kay Gregorio,” Joven stammered, unsure. “Galing kay Ate Isabel.”

The three boys lurched closer, and Joven took this as a wordless cue to tell them what he’s heard.

“Sabi niya na kahit ang charming daw ni Gregorio, may rules daw siya,” Joven begins, “sabi ni Ate na kahit todo effort si Gregorio sa mga relationship niya: text, tawag, date araw-araw, ayaw niya daw ng skin-on-skin contact. Walang holding hands, walang hug, walang kiss kahit saan.”

Jose and Eduardo look at each other.

“Ang lungkot naman,” Paco states, his hand coming down from Joven’s hair to hold his resting hand on the desk, “hindi mo pwedeng ma-touch ang boyfriend mo; walang emotional investment.”

Jose snorts, “landi niyo,” and Joven sticks his tongue out at Jose.   
“Selos ka lang.”  
“You wish.”  
“You wish na ang nunal mo mawawala—”  
“Puta kang bata ka—” Jose jokingly slams his empty Chuckie onto the floor, pointing accusingly at Joven like he’s angry, but his face is smiling. Paco is laughing too.

Eduardo laughs, albeit distractedly. He’s too busy thinking.

He’s too busy thinking: why would Gregorio want to date so many people, but in the end not touch any of them, not even hold hands or anything.   
It’s cool not to want sex – he has a cousin who is a nun and she’s fine. Asexuality is also a thing.  
Why did Gregorio even date so many people in the first place? Is it because he needed to feel loved himself? Or is it because he has self-esteem issues?

While his friends were cracking jokes about Jose’s large mole by his lip, Eduardo is too occupied with trying to psychoanalyse his new boyfriend and to crack the mystery of as to why he doesn’t want to touch all the people he has dated, and why he’s dated so many people.

Why?

He’s forgotten his question the moment the first period after recess had gone halfway through, and he didn’t think of Gregorio at all, all the way till lunch (where Paco bought barbeque for lunch even if his boyfriend did not agree to it, “kumain ka ng barbeque kahapon sa birthday ng pinsan mo!” “Bhe—” “Magkaka-cancer ka niyan!” “Bhe—”) and through the end of school, until his phone vibrates violently in his pocket and he takes it out sneakily to check – why didn’t he put it on Do Not Disturb?

  


 

Eduardo snorts at this. What a nerd.

 

 

  


 

Eduardo is about to type a reply when his teacher clears her throat, “excuse me, Mr Rusca?”

Eduardo looks up. She’s glaring at him. He wants to sink into his chair.

“You don’t want me to confiscate that.”  
“Yes, ma’am, sorry, ma’am,” he apologised, pocketing his phone into his blazer to the snickers of Jose from two seats behind him.

He needs to leave, and it’s one part because of embarrassment, and another part a strange excitement he hasn’t felt at all since this morning when Gregorio asked him out to the college cafe. Can time go faster, he needs to go right now.

Once the bell rings, the teacher sighs and gets the class to stand up, and leads the class in a closing prayer of “Glory Be”, before letting them out. Eduardo was the first one through the door.

The moment Eduardo gets to the tree, Gregorio is already sitting on the bench by it, a girl standing by him with a skirt that should be convicted for being clearly two inches above the knee and nope, no, no, he’s not jealous and doesn’t want the girl to be punished for wearing a skirt so short to try and seduce his boyfriend. Nope.

Eduardo walks through the corridors, hiding by the pillars observing the two with clammy palms. There’s a strange sensation Eduardo feels – blood is swiftly pumping to his hands and he kind of wants to bitch-slap the girl for trying to talk to his boyfriend. But he’s not jealous, really, it’s just the principle of it, of someone trying to steal his boyfriend from him.

Or is she? Is she really? Or is Eduardo just paranoid?

Gregorio’s mestizo face is scrunched up, his eyes squinting due to the sunlight filtering through the leaves of the tree as he looks up at the girl with his usual polite smile. Eduardo can see Gregorio shake his head slowly, and the girl nods in response. Eduardo runs through the corridor a little bit closer to hear them.

“Sorry, Marie,” Gregorio offered, “pero may sinagot na ako kaninang umaga.”

She really is!

Eduardo is ready to fight when he hears Gregorio continue speaking, “try mo lang next week, ha?”

The girl nods forlornly, looking at anywhere but Gregorio, and even if Eduardo views the girl as a rival, he can’t help but empathise with her now.

Next week. Next week and this will be over. Eduardo is not jealous, or threatened, or sad, or whatever. He’s fine. He’s not hurt. It was inevitable, anyway, so why is he taking it so seriously? Besides, it’s just for a bet. He’s not even in love with Gregorio, he’s not even gay, for goodness’ sake!

Eduardo decides he really shouldn’t keep the girl suffering and Gregorio waiting, so he emerges from the corridor with fake enthusiasm, “Greg!”  
Gregorio looks up, face lighting up when he recognises that it’s Eduardo. He gets up from the bench, bounding up to him, “hi, babylabs.”

Eduardo spares a glance to Marie who is looking like she wants to strangle Eduardo.  
“Tara?” Gregorio offers, and Eduardo sneakily winks at Marie as he nods at Gregorio.  
“Sige; gutom na din,” Eduardo responds, subtly trying to elbow Gregorio, who dodges out the way when he feels Eduardo come in contact with him, smiling at him .

Okay, wow. So Joven was right. Touchy.

Gregorio turns to lead Eduardo away when Marie shouts after them, “wow, Eduardo, hindi ko alam na bakla ka pala!”  
Eduardo freezes in his way, “pumunta ka ng library, teh, manghiram ka ng dictionary,” he instructs haughtily, before changing his tone into one of a caller for Bingo, “at sa letrang B, letrang B, letrang B – bisexual!”

Marie looks offended by this condescending shot back.  
“Wag kang bitter,” Eduardo smiles at her, patting his face with two fingers, “nakaka-wrinkles. Now excuse us, may date pa kami. Bye!”

He walks away, and he hears Gregorio running after him with a little breathy chuckle escaping his lips.

Once they’ve left the school, Gregorio apologises to him, “sorry ah, sa kanya.”  
Eduardo shrugs, “okey lang.”  
“Kasi... ang aga mo kasi nangligaw sa akin, so walang nakabalita nga meron na pala akong jowa. So akala nila available pa ako.”

Jusme, ang conyo ng batang ‘to.

Gregorio catches up to him and takes the lead to the college cafe, and Eduardo fiddles with the fluff in the pockets of his blazer, “okey lang talaga, expect ko naman ‘to, eh. Gwapo mo kasi, sikat pa.”  
Gregorio snorts, “di kaya. Kilala lang ako ng mga tao.”

Isn’t that... the literal meaning of popular...?

Eduardo wants to sass him when Gregorio makes a turn, leading him into a building where on the windows of the second floor, a large set of letters say ‘SARANGHAE CAFE’.

“Ito bang... Saranghae Cafe?” Eduardo inquires, and Gregorio nods. Eduardo hits himself in the face.   
“’Saranghae’ and pangalan nila?” Eduardo cringes outwardly, “alam mo ba anong meaning ng ‘saranghae’?”  
“Er, di ba ‘I love you’ ‘yan in Korean?” Gregorio answers, leading them into an elevator and pressing the button to go up. Eduardo ignores the melting of his heart when Gregorio says ‘I love you’. He’s answering your question, Ed, calm your heart.

“Oo!” Eduardo almost yells as they enter the lift, “hindi mo naiintindihan, Greg: ang kuya ko linguistics major, Korean ang pinili niya para sa foreign language elective niya, sobrang galit niya dahil nito. Maraming taong gumagamit sa kultura ng mga Koryano kasi ‘cute’, tapos ang mga sinusulat pa naman nila, hindi niya maiintindihan – sentence fragment—” Eduardo’s rant is interrupted when he feels a strong gust of air spray into the side of his face. Gregorio had blown on his face to shut him up.

“Kailangan mo ng hangin?” he jokes. Eduardo sneers.

Gregorio opens the door to the cafe, beckoning Eduardo to go in first. Eduardo is marveled with how the place looks like.

It’s like enlarged bunk beds made to fit tables and throw pillows. The orange lighting creates for ambiance, while the walls are covered with various coloured post-it notes which seems to be memories of people’s times here. It’s sentimental, it’s something Eduardo has never seen before.

“Ang ganda...”  
“Gaya mo,” Gregorio whispers, “magpili ka na ng lugar, bibili muna ako. Susunod lang ako.”

Eduardo doesn’t waste time running up to a mini-staircase and climbing it, picking a top ‘bunk’. He throws his backpack aside and looks down at Gregorio who is grinning in an amused manner before walking towards the counter.

He falls back on the throwpillows with eyes closed, then starts touching all over his legs to take his phone.

He opens it to realise that there are literally millions of messages from his friends all asking where he is.

  


 

“Hi,” Gregorio breathes when he finally follows up the bunk. “Cute, no?”

Eduardo nods against the pillows, still marvelling over the place and the many memories. He feels kind of reflective. So many people shared so many moments here, he feels a happy energy surging through him.

Gregorio pulls the sleeves of his blazer up to his elbows, “so, Eduardo, tell me about yourself.”

Eduardo shoots up from where he lay on the floor, looking at Gregorio in a confused manner. “Ano to, job interview?” Gregorio chuckles. He sits up either way.

“Er, ako si Eduardo Rusca, third-year section B... um... commander ng Batallion S-two... May kuya ako sa UP nag-aaral, fourth-year Applied Linguistics, uh... tatay ko nasa barko, nanay ko nasa Globe nagta-trabaho. Um, nakapunta na ako ng Hong Kong at Macau, at Taiwan, at Malaysia...”  
“Sosyal,” Gregorio comments, “titingnan ko ang Facebook mo mamaya, para makita ko ang pictures niyo sa Macau.”

Eduardo hides his face in his hands as he laughs silently. “Eh, ikaw, tell me about yourself naman.”

Gregorio shrugs self-deprecatingly, “wala. My name is Gregorio del Pilar – sa birth certificate. Pero inadopt ako ng gobernador ng Cavite so my name is Gregorio Aguinaldo now, actually.”  
“Inadopt?”  
Gregorio shrugs, “malay ko anong nangyari sa totoong ina ko. Pero ang gobernador ng Cavite at yung ka-longterm niya – bakla pala siya – inadopt nila ako. Yun. Gregorio Aguinaldo.”  
“...Ay, hugot naman.”

Gregorio chuckles, and hits him lightly with a throwpillow.

When their orders arrive, Eduardo is surprised that Gregorio had gotten him one slice of cheesecake that costs probably way too much for a cheesecake. Gregorio confiscates the receipt from him as Eduardo’s eyes widen, “di mo naman kailangan gawin ‘yun.”  
“Weh, ginawa ko na, so sorry ka nalang.”  
Eduardo pouts.

“Wag ka nang pa-cute,” Gregorio says, pulling up the sleeves of his blazer up to his elbows. “Enjoy ka nalang. Ako nang bahala.”

Bakit ba kinikiliti si Eduardo?

The rest of their date passes quickly in a flurry of loud laughters and a plethora of gossip about the teachers they hate the most. Apparently they had the same Social Studies teacher in their second years who seems always pregnant and in the end learned nothing for the entirety of second year because she was always on leave and barely taught anything.

Eduardo learns other things about Gregorio, like his childhood obsession with the Saturday morning cartoon marathon on GMA Seven, how he had a large tantrum in SM Fairview when he was five because his fathers wouldn’t buy him a Nintendo, how he went to watch the Sinulog in Cebu last year and got into a fight with his parents so he left their hotel ended up getting lost and mugged so he couldn’t call his parents to come fetch him. Eduardo sticks his tongue out at Gregorio, “yan! Karma, ‘wag kang bastos sa mga magulang mo.” Gregorio pouts playfully.

Eduardo shares about his life too, about his long-gone cat Pepe which was named after the meme and how he cried when his father buried the cat when it died, how a girl slapped his brother in the face because Eduardo accidentally touched her butt when he was twelve and the girl thought it was his brother, how his dad surprised his mom during their wedding anniversary last year by getting Eduardo to put him in a balikbayan box and have him pop out.

“Dumidilim na,” Gregorio states, looking over Eduardo’s head to look at the glass entrance of the cafe. “Ano, uuwi na tayo?”  
“Pwede; tara,” Eduardo picks up his bag and slides his butt over the floor of their table, and Gregorio follows him closely.

Once out of the cafe and walking out to the sidewalk so Eduardo can hail for the right jeep to take him home, Gregorio grins at him happily that it kind of confuses Eduardo.

“I had fun,” he says, his smile reaching his eyes. What.

Eduardo returns the smile, “ako din, salamat ah.”  
“Wala yun. We should do it again,” Gregorio gets closer to him, “so ano, kita tayo bukas?”   
“Sige.”

The jeep Eduardo needs to take finally comes – thank Jesus or this would have been really awkward – so Eduardo waves at him before going in, and the jeep drives away, leaving Gregorio on the sidewalk.

On the jeep, Eduardo pulls out his phone and holds on to it tightly, quickly typing out a message to Jose, partly afraid he is going to get mugged, partly excited as hell.

  


 

 

* * *

 

**Day Two**

“Oi, gising!” his brother yells, slamming a pillow on his exposed ear.

“Putragis—” he exclaims in response, before his brother knocks him out with the same pillow again. “Ang aga, gago! Ano ba?”

His brother freezes, the pillow held up in the air, his face contorted into a shit-eating grin. “Boyfriend mo nasa baba.”

Eduardo screams.

He scurries out of bed, grabbing his glasses and the towel hung on the door and he wraps it around his upper half, shoving his brother to the wall because of his mocking laughter.

Eduardo runs down the stairs to find Gregorio del Pilar sat in his living room, looking as pristine as he usually does: hair perfectly styled, not a wrinkle in sight on his uniform, perfect posture, perfect skin, perfect features—wait, what.

“Greg!” Eduardo calls, somewhat breathless.

Gregorio turns to look at him, smiling way too brightly for this time of day, “good morning.”  
“H-Hi.”  
Gregorio tilts his head, “kailangan mo pala ng glasses?”  
There is a two-second silence before Eduardo nods in a dazed manner. He needs to hold on to something, holy shit. It’s too early for this.

Gregorio chuckles, “ang cute, bagay sa ‘yo.”

They hear someone clear their throat: it’s Mrs Rusca.   
“Nay!” It’s literally way too early for this.

“Hindi ka naman nagpaalam na may boyfriend ka pala, Eduardo,” she says in a stern voice. Both Gregorio and Eduardo’s faces fall into solemn expressions. “At dadalaw siya sa umaga, nagdala pa naman ng tinapay.”

Gregorio and Eduardo look at each other, Eduardo looking at him with a horrified face, while Gregorio gazes at him sheepishly.

“O, siya, maligo ka na para makakain ka na. Hindi mo naman napakilala sa amin ‘yang jowa mo, mag-uusap pa tayo.”  
“A-ah, po, Nay—” Eduardo is interrupted by a loud, boisterous laugh from upstairs. It’s his brother. Piece of shit.

He disappears into the bathroom in embarrassment without sparing Gregorio a glance.

When he comes out, Gregorio is at the dining table with his mother, conversing about something he can’t hear, and he is literally in a towel, and this is so embarrassing, so he sprints past dining table and up the stairs to his room.

He emerges from upstairs in his uniform that smells strongly of Downy – is this newly-ironed? – and his bag and glasses perched on his face. He can’t find it in himself to put on his contacts, he’s too on edge to. He can’t believe Gregorio del Pilar found his address and came to his house. Asshole.

“O, kumain ka na,” his mother instructs him, getting up to leave him with Gregorio.

Once Eduardo sits down, Gregorio smiles uneasily at him, “hi?”  
“Ang aga.”  
“Ah, oo. Sorry. Ensaymada?” Gregorio slides him the Julie’s Bakeshop plastic bag that contained the ensaymada.

Eduardo squints at him before taking the plastic bag to pull out one ensaymada to eat. “Salamat.”

Gregorio tries to make conversation, “naka-glasses ka pala?”   
“Ah, oo. Contacts, actually, pero nakakatamad mag-contacts ngayon so... glasses nalang.”

Gregorio nods, and starts looking around their kitchen as if trying to find something interesting.

When they get to school, everyone is staring.

“Ang sikat mo ah, Greg,” Eduardo teases, and Gregorio rolls his eyes.   
“Di no, nakakatitig sila kasi ang gwapo mo noon, pero dumoble kasi naka-glasses ka.”

Ampota.

Eduardo wants to set himself on fire and fall over at the same time.

‘Oi, gago,’ Eduardo thinks to himself, ‘wala lang ‘yan. He doesn’t mean it. ‘Wag kang strong masyado.’

“Oi, Eduardo!” someone yells, and his head whips around to find the source to realise that it’s Jose, approaching him with Joven and Paco. Eduardo waves at them, meeting Jose with a bro-hug.

“Uh, guys,” Eduardo stutters, motioning to Gregorio, “boyfriend ko pala – si Gregorio.”

Gregorio waves at them, “good morning.”

“Si Joven pala,” Eduardo introduces, “at si Paco, and Jose.”

Joven waves back, Paco offers his hand and Gregorio shakes it, and he and Jose go into a bro-hug as well.

“Ay!” Gregorio suddenly exclaims, “may kailangan pala akong gawin. Mauna nalang ako, okey ba yun?”  
Eduardo nods at him, “o, sige, sige.”  
“Kita lang tayo for lunch?”  
Eduardo nods again, albeit hesitantly, before Gregorio runs off to God-knows-where.

Once Gregorio is out of earshot, Jose turns to Eduardo, “o, ano?”  
Eduardo sighs largely, “di ko kaya, guys.”

All three of them shriek out a “ha!?”

“Bakit?” Joven inquires.

Eduardo shrugs, “iba siya, guys. Mabait siya.”  
“Ha!?” Jose repeats.  
“Nagsisimula na akong nagkakagusto sa kanya, Jose,” he laments, “hindi ko alam kung kakayanin ko kung iiwan na niya ako.”

Jose is about to scream again, something about him winning the dare now, when Paco shoves him and pats Eduardo’s head. “Di mo kailangan gawin ‘to, Ed, hindi ka namin pinipilitan.” Paco glares at Jose who slumps in defeat.

Eduardo sighs. It would be so cowardly to back out of a dare, it shouldn’t be anything anyway. He just needs to date Gregorio del Pilar for seven days. That’s all. He could do it. He can get through seven days without falling in love with Gregorio del Pilar. “Tatapusin ko nalang ‘to,” he declares in a small voice, “nakakahiya kung hindi.”

Jose shrieks again, offering his hand for a high-five that Eduardo half-heartedly meets. “Yan! Yan ang Eduardong kilala namin!”

Puta ka Jose.

When they’re let out for lunch, there is a squeal by the door, “Gregorio!” and Eduardo remembers their lunch date. He hurriedly packs his things and Jose waves him out as he leaves the room.

Eduardo finds Gregorio leaning on the wall next to the door like singers do on their music videos: back and a foot to the wall, knee bent out. Once their eyes meet, Gregorio’s face lights up and he removes himself from the wall. “Lunch?”

Mothershitfuck. “Tara.”

Eduardo follows Gregorio up two flights of stairs to the top floor of the school, where he opens a door towards the end of the hallway to reveal a dusty spiral staircase.

“Ano—”  
“Bilis!” Gregorio urges, excitement in his voice as he pulls Eduardo into the room and up the sketchy stairs.

There is another door on top of the stairs which Gregorio simply twists open – it’s the school’s rooftop garden.

“Oh my god,” Eduardo exhales, awed at the plants, the flowers, the view, the height, the fact that Gregorio managed to get them up here. “Paano...? Hindi pwede umakyat dito, mga STEM track lang daw.”

Gregorio grins smugly as he sets his bag down on the floor, “basta. Upo ka na, kain tayo. May handa ako.”

What.

“Greg...” Eduardo says in a warning voice, but sits across him with crossed legs nonetheless.

“Basta,” Gregorio waves him off,  “wag kang magalala.” He opens his bag to retrieve a Tiffin carrier and opens the locks, then separating the four containers from its stack: two of the four containers contained rice – which Gregorio handed one to Eduardo – and the third container contained caldereta – how did Gregorio know that this was Eduardo’s favourite? – and the fourth contained a bunch of silver Hershey’s Kisses.

“Greg,” Eduardo gasps at the lunch Gregorio had packed for the both of them. Gregorio beams.

“Nagustuhan mo ba?” he asks, looking up at Eduardo. Eduardo nods fervently. Gregorio chuckles, and turns back to his bag to reach for the two pairs of spoons and forks as well as two five-hundred-milliliter bottles of Nestea Iced Tea.

Halfway through their silent meal, Eduardo speaks. “Bakit sa rooftop tayo? High School Musical ang peg?”

Gregorio almost chokes in laughter but goes along with it, “oo nga, no. Hindi ko naisip.”

Eduardo smiles. Gregorio is growing to be his favourite person, and it would have been okay, except it isn’t, because he’s going to be dumped in seven days. But why is his heart so vulnerable, easily allowing Gregorio in, knowing that none of this is real?

* * *

 

**Day Three**

  


 

Eduardo slaps himself on the cheek tightly when he realises a dopey smile is forming on his lips. Why is this happening? Normally he doesn’t care – he  _shouldn’t_  care – but lately whenever Gregorio’s name pops up on his phone screen, there is a warm churn in his stomach and its discomfort shows on his face in the form of a foolish grin.

Jose stares at him for slapping himself but says nothing for the first time. Good friend.

Is Eduardo getting a crush? On a boy, too?

Nah. It can’t be.

And besides, he’d never get a crush on Gregorio. He’d rather jump off of the Pier of Manila than be in love with Gregorio – rich playboy extraordinaire. He can’t be another one to the string of lovers that he’s dragged and dropped like expired cheese. It’s better to drown in deep water than drown in his feelings for a boy that clearly does not feel and will never feel the same way for Eduardo.

That is, if Eduardo really does have a crush on Gregorio. Which he doesn’t. Psh. Nah.

But due to the pressure off winning the bet, his fingers take charge and type a reply of affirmation, telling his fake boyfriend that he’ll meet him after school. And yes, ‘fake’ because all of this is a fluke. Nothing is real, Gregorio is just humouring him, and Eduardo is only reminding himself of what his real standing is.

\--

When Eduardo is approaching Gregorio’s usual tree, Gregorio stands in attention, like it was CAT and Eduardo was Antonio who was asking him why he was mucking around.

“Okey ka lang?” Eduardo asks in a bemused voice. He would laugh if he weren’t so besotted for this boy.  
“Okey lang,” Gregorio’s light and breezy voice responds, “tara?”

Eduardo nods in response, following Gregorio’s lead out of the school gates.

“Saan tayo?” quips Eduardo, looking up at the slightly taller junior. Gregorio only looks ahead as they make to cross the road.

“Bahay ko.”  
“Ha!?” Eduardo’s voice makes some of his schoolmates jolt in astonishment.

“Huminahon ka nga,” Gregorio chuckles, “pupunta tayo sa bahay ko.”  
“B-Bakit?” Eduardo stutters, “naku, Greg, bata pa tayo! Hindi pa ako ready, gusto ko pa mag-college—”  
Gregorio laughs even more, “gago, maglalaro lang tayo!”

Eduardo pretends to pray, “Diyos ko, Lord! ‘Yan na ba ang tawag ng mga bata ngayon? ‘Maglalaro’? Lord, ‘wag muna, Lord...”

Eduardo knows that even if he is not looking at Gregorio that Gregorio is rolling his eyes, “Xbox, gago.”  
Eduardo milks the joke for all its worth, “Xbox? Ano ‘yan? Bagong sex toy—Ah!”

Gregorio pretends to push him into the road but pulls him back just to scare him.

“Gago!” shrieks Eduardo, hitting Gregorio on the shoulder. Gregorio only laughs boisterously at him, dodging his hit.

“Malapit akong namatay!”

Gregorio pouts, “grabe ka naman, beh, I wouldn’t let that happen to you.”

Eduardo wills himself not to turn red. Shit.

The next moment Eduardo looks at Gregorio, Eduardo concludes that he hates the three-o-clock sun, because it’s too bright. It’s too bright and it hits Gregorio in the right ways that it makes him look like a god, and Eduardo finds himself wishing that he would the one to make Gregorio weak.

He tears his gaze away; he shouldn’t stare. Because if he stared, he’d fall. And if he’d fall, he’d touch. And no matter where this went, Gregorio would still leave him in the end because he never settles for long. He’s a butterfly and Eduardo was the flower sucked of all its nectar, unable to move and follow his favourite butterfly.

“Uy,” Gregorio mutters, looking at him with creamy brown eyes that swirl earnestly as they look at him. Eduardo struggles not to bite his lower lip to prevent himself from saying anything.

He’s so pretty and Eduardo can’t take it. He can’t take this perfection and the knowledge that Gregorio can and will tear him apart after seven days. Why did he agree to this stupid dare in the first place? Just so he can mock Jose? This isn’t worth it. He can mock Jose another time, and at his own expense as well. Not Eduardo’s, especially now that he feels afraid of his feelings for a boy that only kept him around to keep his reputation of never turning anyone down – boy or girl.

He didn’t like how Gregorio makes him feel so important, so special, so loved. He didn’t know he needed this kind of affection until Gregorio gave it to him, spoiling him and giving him all that he needed from a relationship.

Not even his last girlfriend made him feel this way. It was cute at first, the prospect of him and her, but now it just gives him a lurch in his stomach and a green face thinking back on it. It’s a stark contrast to the happy fluttering in his stomach and the rosy cheeks Eduardo gains when Gregorio so much as merely text him.

Gregorio is so charming, so kind, so cordial, so sincere, and Eduardo is obsessed.

Eduardo is falling apart because one: he thought he was straight, and two: he wants to explore the prospect of being not-straight with Gregorio, to give Gregorio the honour of being his first experiences as a queer boy.

He wants Gregorio so much it’s starting to scare him.

\--

Eduardo tells these fears to Paco that night in the cab home – he would have gladly taken a jeep but Gregorio forced him and even paid for the cab in advance – he tells it to Paco who listens intently, Eduardo teary-eyed in the  backseat as he laments of his newfound feelings.

“Di ko na alam, Paco,” wails Eduardo, “pero hindi ako bakla last time I checked. Pero itong si Gregorio...” he sniffles, and Paco hums into the phone. He owes Paco so much, being the pillar of strength of their group, the beacon of maturity and the voice of reason.

“Parang mahal ko na siya!”  
Paco sighs, “sure ka na ba?”  
“Oo!”  
“Okey lang yan ang nararamdaman mo, Ed—”  
“Pero para sa isang playboy!?” he exclaims, “ano ba, masochist rin ba ako?”  
“Kaya mo ‘to, Ed, apat na araw nalang naman. At least pagkatapos nito pwede mo nang parusahin si Jose dahil sa abala mo, na-in love ka pa naman.”

Eduardo hates that Paco knows how his pride is so important to him.

* * *

**Day Four**

“Hng?” Eduardo garbles into his phone.

“Date tayo?”

Eduardo bolts into a sitting position on his bed, “Greg!”

Gregorio laughs his twinkly kind of laugh into the phone at Eduardo’s flustered voice.

“Bumangon ka na, magbihis ka rin, labas tayo.”  
“Eh-eh teka, Greg,” Eduardo stutters, “Thursday ngayon, may pasok tayo...”  
Eduardo can literally hear Gregorio’s eyeroll on the other side, “wag kang mag-alala, nagpaalam na ako sa ina mo.”  
“Ha!?” he shrieks, “paano? Kailan? Pinlano mo na ‘to?”  
“Daming tanong mo, beh, ang cute,” Gregorio muses, “basta. ‘Di mo kailangan malaman, bumangon ka na. Kukunin kita at seven-forty, malayo pa ang biyahe natin.”  
“Eh, saan naman tayo?”  
“Basta... sige na, kita nalang tayo mamaya, okay? Bye!”

Eduardo can hear the call being ended, but he’s frozen on the spot with his phone still pressed to his ear.

Then he screams.

\--

“Oh-em-gee,” Eduardo raves when he catches sight of the huge sign saying ‘Manila Ocean Park’. “Oh-em-gee, Greg, Ocean Park!”

Gregorio looks at him in a way that could only be described as fond, but Eduardo erases that from his mind. It can’t be real, it’s just his wishful thinking reflecting on the sights he sees in real life.

“Gusto mo? Nagtanong ako sa kuya mo, sabi niya matagal ka na daw hindi nakapunta sa Ocean Park, paborito mo daw ‘to na lugar kaso mahal at malayo...”

Eduardo only squeals in response. Before he can help it, the words are out of his mouth, “best boyfriend in the world ka, Greg, oh-my-gee.”

Eduardo is breathless. He can’t believe Gregorio had gone through all this trouble and spent so much money so he can fulfill his boyfriend’s childhood wish of returning to Manila Ocean Park.

It’s too much effort for the type of boyfriend who has an expiration date like him.

\--

Tunnels and tunnels of fish stretch out before him, and the guard was barely even given a second to check Eduardo’s ticket before he runs past the man, squealing as he catches sight of the glowing tanks.

“Tara, Greg, tara!” he bounces on either foot in his excitement, wishing he could just grab Gregorio’s hand and drag him inside. This is no time to smile and walk slowly, surely Gregorio would understand that. Eduardo has not set foot in this place is almost twelve years, he needs to hurry to see how everything is now.

But even so, it’s not an excuse. It’s not an excuse for Eduardo to grab his hand without his consent, especially since it’s against Gregorio’s personal rules.

Eventually with Gregorio’s turtle-like speed and his kind-of-drunk smile trying to catch up with Eduardo, they finally make it into the Ocean Park itself.

Eduardo is mesmerised.

This place is just as beautiful as he remembered it – blue and glowing, the sun beaming gently down on the sea and through the glass as their natural light.

Groups of different fishes swim past, from families to solo fishes, various sizes of seahorses and tortoises, as well as some majestic stingrays. And Eduardo is so entranced by the beauty of nature and of the ocean that he doesn’t realise that Gregorio had slipped his hand into Eduardo’s, only finding when he feels skin pressing against the back of his hand.

It must be some kind of joke – Joven and Ate Isabel must have been wrong with the claiming that Gregorio never touches anyone he dates because he’s touching Eduardo right now. They’re holding hands, and Eduardo’s heart is soaring.

He says nothing about it even with his mind racing a mile a minute with too many thoughts about how Gregorio defied his own rules of never touching whoever his conquest was for that week. Instead, Eduardo grins and bears it, reveling in the sensation of finally touching Gregorio for what could be both the first and last time. He’ll pretend this is real: they’re a real happy couple, destiny bringing them together until the lines get closer and closer until they become one entity. Not two individuals, but them as one unit bound by real love.

Even with the strange stares, neither of them let go.

* * *

**Day Five**

“How did your parents meet?” Gregorio asks, sat closely by Eduardo’s side on his bedroom window, their feet dangling right over the rusting metallic roof of the first floor. It’s a chilly night and they drape Eduardo’s blanket over their shoulders, and they stare at the starless sky, identifying the colours that compose it instead.

Eduardo is taken by surprise. “H-Ha?”

Gregorio only nods.  That’s helpful.

“Di ko alam...” Eduardo mumbles, somewhat embarrassed.

Gregorio insists, “weh, ‘di nga!” he sidles even closer to Eduardo, like he isn’t close enough to the other boy. It’s not helping that his window is too small for two fully-grown teenage boys.

“Um,” Eduardo starts racking his brains for any scrap of memory he can retell about the story of how his parents met.  
“Si mama ko, galing Zamboanga. After high school pumunta siya dito sa Maynila para mag-aral, Santo Tomas. Doon siya naki-ipon sa bahay ng isang distant relative nila, tapos doon sila nagkita ni tatay. Kapitbahay sila; playboy ang tatay ko noon. Maraming chicks. Si mama ko naman sobrang in love kay tatay nagka-crush pa rin kahit ganun. Tapos pinatulan ni tatay si mama then yun. Diyan na-realise ni tatay na matino pala si mama kaysa sa ibang mga chicks niya. So iniwan niya silang lahat at naging sila ni mama. At nung gumadruate si mama ko si tatay ko nagtatrabaho na sa barko, so sabi ni tatay sa kanya ‘pag-uwi ko diyan, magpapakasal tayo’. Nung nag-masters si mama in Pharmacy, si tatay ang nagbayad sa tuition niya. Tapos pag-graduation ni mama umuwi si Tatay at one month later nagpakasal na sila. Huwis. Nung two months old ako doon na sila nagpakasal sa pari. Yun. The end.”

Throughout the story Gregorio was beaming, suddenly not caring about how his hair is imperfect as the evening wind sets it flayed. “Ang sweet naman nila,” he coos, and Eduardo furrows his brows at him. “Lalo na yung tatay mo.”

“Baliw ka ba?” Eduardo demands jokingly, “playboy nga eh, ‘sweet’.”

Gregorio lets out an exaggerated, childish whine, raising his hands and throwing them around Eduardo’s waist, holding him tightly as he places his head on Eduardo’s shoulder. It almost feels normal. “Sweet nga.”  
“Bahala ka diyan.”

“Sa isip mo, makakuha ka rin ba ng happy ending?” Eduardo asks after a stretch of silence. “yung tipong paggising mo sa umaga, alam mo na na sure na talaga, siya na ang forever mo.”

“Hugot mo naman,” Gregorio lifts his head from Eduardo’s shoulder. “pero isip ko hindi siguro ganun lang. I think mutual agreement ang forever kasi. Kayong dalawa, nag-uusap, nagco-compromise sa life niyo. Forever is not symbolised by engagement rings and ‘will you marry me’s, pero more on cooperation na ito na talaga. At ‘wag ka ngang hugot, nakaka-emo.”

Eduardo rolls his eyes, “sorry na nga.”

“Okey lang,” Gregorio places his head on Eduardo’s shoulder again, pulling him tighter against him. Eduardo tries not to think about how Gregorio is not a hassle to be cuddling with, unlike his last girfriend. It was almost like they fit, like they were each other’s home.

If there was a star right now, Eduardo knew what his wish would be.

“Gabi na,” Gregorio whispers into his neck, and it makes Eduardo tingle everywhere. He hopes Gregorio doesn’t notice. “Uuwi na ako, ayokong magwala ang parents ko.”

Eduardo would normally make a comment about how conyo Gregorio sounds, but it’s clouded by the emotion of disappointment because Gregorio is leaving him.   
“I had fun.”  
“Ako din,” Eduardo smiles so brightly his cheeks are in pain. It says a lot about the things that make him smile and the frequency in which it happens. He’ll probably be never this happy again, he muses bitterly.

“Aw,” Gregorio says fondly, a hand removing from Eduardo’s waist and placed on Eduardo’s cheek. “Big smile; ang cute.”  
Eduardo wants to swat his hand away but he’s too busy feeling panicky over the fact that Gregorio was touching him in places that are risky if you don’t want someone to fall in love with you.

Gregorio brushes his thumb gently on Eduardo’s cheek and Eduardo’s heartrate increases when Gregorio lets go and gets up, crawling back into the window into Eduardo’s room. He picks up the blanket and wraps it around Eduardo who allows himself to be wrapped snugly into the cloth when he feels something press his cheek and hears a smacking noise against his face.

Gregorio had just kissed him on the cheek.

And without a word, Gregorio had padded out of his bedroom and out of his house, making sure to close the door as politely as possible, and Eduardo feels like his heart is on fire as his mind reels over what just happened.

Gregorio had just kissed him.

* * *

  **Day Six**  


“Paco, oh my god,” Eduardo cries, “hindi pa siya nagtext! Masusuka na ako, oh my god--”

“Hoi!” Paco  exclaims, “wag kang sumuka, okey ka lang ba?”  
“Hindi! Naiinip na ako sa kakahintay, hindi pa siya nagtext sa akin!”

Paco sighs, “yan lang ang problema mo? Grabe naman, si Joven hindi nga kami nagte-text ngayon, natatakot ba ako?”  
Eduardo grabs Paco by the shoulders and shakes him, “hindi mo naiintindihan, Paco, palagi nalang kami nagte-text, pero ngayon wala! Iniisip siguro niya kung paano niya ako hihiwalayan; last day na namin bukas!”  
“Kung siya ang boyfriend mo, obviously may last day ‘yan.”  
“Alam ko ‘yan, pero hindi mo naiintindihan, Paco, hinalikan niya ako kagabi, hindi ko siya—”

Paco is red in the face, “ano!?” he demands, “hinalikan ka niya!?”  
Eduardo’s lip is quivering like he’s going to cry, and he nods. “Sa pisngi.”

Paco is speechless.

“Hinalikan ka niya?” Paco asks again, slowly this time, for confirmation. Eduardo nods again. Paco gasps.  
“Ed, ‘di ‘yan normal behaviour! Hindi nga niya hinahawakan ang mga girlfriend, eh kiss pa kaya.”  
“Pero ginawa niya sa akin ‘yun... Hinawakan niya ako, tapos hinalikan—”

Paco screams.

“—at ngayon hindi na siya kumakausap sa akin... Natatakot na ako, Paco.”

“Baka nahihiya lang yun,” Paco answers hopefully, “siguro hindi pa siya nagka-first kiss. Juskolord, Ed, baka nagkagusto siya sa ‘yo na totohanan na!”

Eduardo is about to refute this when his phone rings in his hand. It’s Gregorio.

“Tumatawag siya!” screams Eduardo, heaving his breaths to calm down before he picks up the call. “Hello?”  
“Pwede ba tayo magkita? May sasabihin sana ako.”  
“Ah, sige, sige!”

\--

When Eduardo sees Gregorio with a solemn face, Eduardo’s chest clenches painfully. Why does Gregorio look so sad?

“Ed,” Gregorio breathes almost inaudibly.   
“Okey ka lang?” says Eduardo, “may problema ba? Pwede mo akong kausapin...”

Gregorio sighs, “I think we should break up.”

Eduardo’s face falls along with his heart.

He knew it was coming, it was inevitable. The end to their whirlwind romance would soon come, but he didn’t think it would be a day too early. And he certainly did not expect the ease with which Gregorio says it. But he’s not surprised, he’s done this countless times, so why is Eduardo any different?

From sadness came anger, Eduardo’s eyes steeling themselves into coldness, “you’re kidding me, right?” he demands. Gregorio looks up from his feet in astonishment. “Iiwan mo ako – ano, hindi ba ako sapat sa ‘yo na hanggang anim na araw lang ako? Hindi mo ba talaga ako type na hindi pa nga pitong araw susuko ka na?”

“Hindi ‘yan ang ibig sabihin ko!” Gregorio argued defensively.

“So what? Ano ang ibig sabihin mo? Bakit anim na araw lang ako pero ang mga iba pito!?” his voice grew thicker as he spoke. His eyes are pooling with tears when Gregorio looks away from him.

“I just think we need to break up, okay? I’m sorry.”

Eduardo sniffles, but he refuses to look vulnerable. With all the remaining emotional strength he has, he confesses to Gregorio.

“Alam mo pakboy ka talaga, Gregorio. Pinaniwala mo ako na in love ka sa akin; narinig ko na hindi mo hinahawakan ang mga jowa mo, pero hinawakan mo ang kamay ko doon sa Ocean Park, at hinalikan mo pa ako kagabi. Gago ka talaga, pinahulog mo ako sa ‘yo pero ‘yun lang, hindi mo kinaya ang pitong araw,” Eduardo sighs and moves to turn away, “uuwi na ako.”

“Ed—”

Eduardo forces himself to not spare Gregorio a glance.

Being single was easier.

* * *

 

**Day Seven**

_Are you sure you want to delete this contact?_

_Yes._

* * *

 

**Day Eight**

“Oh my gosh!” Jose shrieks through the halls, Joven in tow by the collar and screaming for his life. The two collide with the unsuspecting Eduardo and Paco.

“Hoi!” Eduardo demands, “ano ba?”

Jose claps his hands jubilantly as Joven coughs out a breath, “binasted ni Gregorio si Bem!”

All three of them shriek, “ha!?”

Jose laughs boisterously, “oo! Binasted ni Gregorio is Bem, walang explanation bakit whatsoever. Sinabihan pa niya si Bem na ipagkalat ang balita na ayaw na daw niya makikipag-date kahit sino pa.”

Eduardo wills himself to act completely normal, like this new information isn’t bothering him in the slightest. Why did Gregorio suddenly give up this whole dating-someone-for-a-week thing?

His heart swells in the very very small hope that he stopped because Eduardo had something to do with it. He must have realised he had hurt Eduardo so much, maybe he realised with Eduardo’s outburst that he had hurt many people but none of them were courageous enough like Eduardo to tell him that he feels played, and that he felt something close to remorse for all the people he had lifted up only to throw them down and butcher their heart. Or maybe because he’s fallen for Eduardo as well, but Eduardo knows that’s wishful thinking. Gregorio never falls in love, he was hard to get. Or maybe he’s just tired of dating a new person, having to cope with their quirks and their personality and having to come up with new things to do and new places to go.

Eduardo sighs. He’s overthinking it – he probably has nothing to do with it. And besides, he should  be moving on from Gregorio, not be hung up on him and his choices. It’s much better that way, anyway, he doesn’t get hurt anymore.

* * *

 

**Day Nine**

“Ed!” Jose shrieks once again throughout the halls. Eduardo swears one day he will duct tape Jose’s face.

Jose is waving a piece of folded paper in front of his face, “may nagpadala sa akin nito, ipapabigay daw sa ‘yo!”  
Eduardo is trying to catch Jose’s eyes, dodging the paper in his face, “ha? Galing saan?”  
“Basta!” squeals Jose, shoving the paper into one of the pages of the college algebra textbook Eduardo was clutching. “Basahin mo mamaya, ha? Sige, may klase pa ako, bye!”

Jose runs away with no explanation, and Eduardo stares at his retreating back before remembering that they were supposed to be in the same section and he’s heading in the wrong direction.

\--

It’s two hours later at the groggy college algebra class that he remembers the folded note slipped into his textbook when the teacher instructs them to open page one hundred forty-five and do question one – from letter a to g.

He flips through his textbook, finding the note in page three hundred seventeen, pulling it out and opening it to read.

The paper is filled with a clean and firm handwriting, almost like his father’s, in expensive black G-Tec pen ink. It was so neatly written it almost intimidated him.

And yet with the appearance of the handwriting, it was surprising that the content was a love letter.

_Hi Kuya Ed!_

_Hihihi, sorry kinikilig ako kapag ini-imagine ko na binabasa mo to._  
Kuya Ed, ang cute niyo po, parang may crush ako sayo (hindi ‘parang’, sure na talaga ako hihihi). Ang gwapo niyo po, lalo na kapag naka-snapback kayo. Ang ganda din ng buhok niyo po, makapal, medyo sexy hahaha... Kapag tumatawa kayo parang lumilipad ang puso ko omg. Ang kinis din po ng kutis ninyo, summer skin kahit hindi pa summer.  
Ano ba to ang sinusulat ko omg. Nakakatawa po kayo at sobrang loyal at mabait sa mga kaibigan mo. At kapag nakikita kita sa CAT parang gusto ko po lumuhod sa harapan ninyo odk hehehe.  
Gusto ko sana i-prove sa inyo na gustong gusto ko po kayo, na hindi ko po kayo sasaktan kagaya ni Gregorio! Pwede po bang magkita tayo sa ilalim ng puno sa quadrangle at lunch time? Maghihintay po ako!

_~ Secret Admirer <3_

How cute.

Eduardo would say ‘no’, but he can’t. Not wordlessly, anyway. He’ll just turn up to find out who it is and explain to them that he’s not over Gregorio yet, and that it’s nice that they thought Eduardo was all these qualities, but instead of charming, it just comes off as flattering. He’ll apologise because he can’t like this person back, and maybe offer to be friends.

Gregorio has really ruined all his hope for romance.

\--

At lunch, Eduardo is approaching the tree when he finds Gregorio sat under the tree on the blue bench. He is about to slow down and ease back up when Gregorio spots him, and his face lights up.

“Kuya Ed!” he calls him over.

No way.

“Anong ginagawa mo diyan?” Eduardo demands.   
“Hinihintay kita.”

What?

“Anong  hinihintay mo ako, break na tayo ‘di ba?”

Gregorio looks like a kicked puppy as Eduardo spits those words out, but he braves it out anyway.

“A-ako ang nagpadala ng sulat...” he mumbles, looking down on his lap.

“Anong pinagsasabi mo, hindi mo ako gusto, ‘di ba. I mean, hindi pa nga pitong araw iniwan mo na ako.” Eduardo is bitter, sue him.

Gregorio sniffles, “Sorry po, Kuya Ed,” he whispers, “natatakot lang kasi ako... I have never liked anyone before, pero ikaw, nakaka-in love ka kasi, Kuya Ed... Tapos sinabi ni Ate Isabel sa akin na you asked me out for a dare pero may nararamdaman ka na para sa akin, at parang napahiya ako, ayokong matalo, Kuya Ed, pero hindi ko kinaya, natakot ako kasi nain-love ako sa ‘yo... hindi ‘yon pwede...”

“Alam mo?” Ed asks, astonished. Sometimes he loves Joven, but Joven literally tells his sister everything that it gets kind of annoying. Gregorio nods.

“Sorry, Kuya Ed,” Gregorio says in a small voice, “pero hindi ko kinaya. I miss you, Kuya Ed, kahit anim na araw lang tayo nagkasama. At in love na rin ako sa ‘yo.” Gregorio wrings his fingers together as he speaks, “so I’m here to ask for a second chance.”

Eduardo gasps. “Ano?”

“Let me try again, Kuya Ed,” he says, eyes boring into Eduardo’s, “I’m in love with you and gusto ko na mag-boyfriend tayo na totoo na. I promise hindi kita iiwan ulit, please, Kuya Ed, sobrang miss na kita, I love you.”

Eduardo stares at him with a blank stare before he slaps Gregorio, flinging a hand into Gregorio’s face in one swift motion. Gregorio is given no time to react when Eduardo grabs Gregorio’s face, kissing him deeply.

“Fuck you, Gregorio del Pilar,” Eduardo exhales when they break apart, their foreheads touching, “pero yes.”

Gregorio squeals softly below Eduardo before they kiss again, smiles on their faces, Eduardo feeling Gregorio’s warmth and nervous breathing.

But it’s okay. They’re okay.


End file.
